Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
13th out of 131 books
—
119 voters
A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan
As a young girl growing up in 1970s Afghanistan, Nelofer Pazira seems destined for a bright future. The daughter of liberal-minded professionals, she enjoys a safe, loving and privileged life. Some of her early memories include convivial family picnics and New Years’ celebrations overlooking the thousands of red flowers that carpet the hills of Mazar. But Nelofer’s world i...more
Paperback, 432 pages
Published
April 11th 2006
by Vintage Canada
(first published September 6th 2005)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
870)
للمرة الأولى في حياتي .. أضطر للتوقف عن القراءة لأرتاح قليلاً ثم أكمل .. وبالأحرى لا أستطيع إكمال القراءة ... لأنني وصلت إلى حالة انفعالية دفعتني إلى إغلاق الكتاب بغضب ورميه بعيداً وأنا على وشك الانفجار غضباً وبكاءً وحقداً على العالم القذر
من دمّر أفغانستان وقتل مليوني إنسان وشرّد الملايين الآخرين خلال عشرين سنة من أقسى أنواع البؤس والشقاء الذي يمكن أن يتخيله إنسانٌ ما !!! من المسؤول ؟ الاتحاد السوفيتي أم أميركا أم السعودية أم إيران أم باكستان أم الهند ؟؟ من ؟؟؟
تروي "نيلوفر بازيرا" قصة حياتها لت...more
من دمّر أفغانستان وقتل مليوني إنسان وشرّد الملايين الآخرين خلال عشرين سنة من أقسى أنواع البؤس والشقاء الذي يمكن أن يتخيله إنسانٌ ما !!! من المسؤول ؟ الاتحاد السوفيتي أم أميركا أم السعودية أم إيران أم باكستان أم الهند ؟؟ من ؟؟؟
تروي "نيلوفر بازيرا" قصة حياتها لت...more
6 likes · like · see review
view all 5 comments
I have just finished reading "A Bed of Red Flowers." The book moved me and gave me a lot to think about. I think of the utter mess the history of Afganistan is and has been for some time, of the dangerous relationship between tradition/religion and modernity. I think of the women of Afganistan who are so vulnerable, especially if they are refusing to obey traditional values.
Nelofer Pazira gave me a wonderful overview of her country, made me see the people there in their complexity. A touching me...more
Nelofer Pazira gave me a wonderful overview of her country, made me see the people there in their complexity. A touching me...more
1 like · like · see review
NO SPOILERS – but I do relate some historical events!
Through page 70: I am reading another memoir; this time it is about the author and her Afghan family. Fascinating! It starts by describing her father's life. To understand why he simply cannot leave Afghanistan when all logical thinking says they must, it is necessary to understand his past. Most books start with the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. The reader is given a completely different perspective on Afghan life if you start yea...more
Canadian author - lives in Toronto.
A memoir - story of family living in Afghanistan during Russian rule, their escape to Pakistan and eventual relocation to Canada.
Us, at least me, am busy in my life, running to classes, meeting someone for lunch, running to an evening engagement, etc. . Make me stop to think and apprecite my situation in life, when persons in the this story are running to air raid shelters, a safe home/hiding place, from border guards, etc. We don't know how lucky we are.
A memoir - story of family living in Afghanistan during Russian rule, their escape to Pakistan and eventual relocation to Canada.
Us, at least me, am busy in my life, running to classes, meeting someone for lunch, running to an evening engagement, etc. . Make me stop to think and apprecite my situation in life, when persons in the this story are running to air raid shelters, a safe home/hiding place, from border guards, etc. We don't know how lucky we are.
This book was really captivating, I also enjoyed learning about pre-Taliban Afghanistan as most of the books or memoirs I have read are from Taliban to the present with very little focus on prior to that period. It covered such a long time period and there is so much history that I imagine she could have written about three books and not covered everything. There were periods in her life and the memoir I definitely would have liked to have read more about including her arrival in Pakistan and Ca...more
This book is one of my favorite books of all time. Before I read this book , I couldn't even relate to Afghan people. I thought they were backward and uneducated. This book is written by a young woman my age and her experiences with her native country before coming to Canada. This book mafde me realise that Afghan women are not unlike me and that Afghanistan is a modern country that was afflicted by extremisim and forever changed. Every Canadian should read this book.
Did the world really need another Afghan memoir/history/tract extolling some nebulous but deeply-felt emotional virtue? Not if the writer is Nelofer Pazira. This is the sort of book that will drive NPR wild with what they will call its "lyricism", "evocativeness" and "undeniable human spirit". Really, those are bywords for "vagueness", "tired observations" and "cliched platitudes". Books like these, to copy its use of cliches, are a dime a dozen.
This book really gave me a good understandng of what the innocent citizens of Afghanistan had to suffer through and are still suffering through. I was torn at what to rate this book. If the rating system on here allowed half star I would have given this book 3.5 stars. At times I felt the writing was disconnected and jumped so rapidly from one event to another. I also felt at times that the author was rambling. Other times I felt like I was reading a historical text book. Despite these things th...more
A story of Afghghanistan from before the Russian invasion to about 2005. A story of human courage in the face of living with the communists, the taliban and what the war on terror has wrought in the country. Well worth reading. Gives one an idea of what life is like in a war zone and with religious extremism.
Good history of Afghanistan told by a woman who escaped with her family to Pakistan and then Canada. Interesting to compare with other books I've read about Afghanistan from other points of view; Kite Runner, The Forever War and The Places In Between. The author really tries to see the whole story while telling her own. Sad when things seem so much worse there now.
I LOVED this book. She is a real heroine--I always enjoy books about ordinary women who are courageous in extraordinary circumstances. I also now understand many things about the world we live in that I did not, before.
I won't lie: I don't like the tendency to write about Afghanistan as if it was once a liberal or modern society. Some elite 2% of the population lived something similar to a Western lifestyle in Kabul, but I suspect this book to be a deeply biased and unrepresentative emigré account of Afghanistan's modern history. My only other complaint is that the journalistic quality of the writing breaks down toward the end of the book, especially in the Russian chapter, where it turns into a more subjectiv...more
anyone who questions that us foreign policy set the stage for terrorism in/from afghanistan, read this book. i never doubted this, but this book breaks it down. this is a story of a person, a woman, an afghan, who grew up in the middle of her country being torn apart by politics.
the enemy of your enemy is not your friend.
the enemy of your enemy is not your friend.
Very well written. First 100 pages are a history lesson the last 295 bring a better understanding of Afghanistan's people and us Americans and occupation. Worth your time!
This woman and her family lived through much of the history and wars of modern Afghanistan. The book tells about her making a great movie called Kandahar which I saw.
I really enjoyed this book as it gave an insight into what has been going on in Afghanistan for the past 50 years, much more than the recent turmoil.
Not a sell-out enjoyable, sweet and sad, like any book about Afghanistan should be, a coutry raped by forigners and locals alike.
Nelofer Pazira is a writer, teacher, and actress who is Afghan. This is an autobiography of her life and an history of her country. Pazira's family were middle class and led an easy life. Her father was a respected doctor. Previous to the Soviet invasion, Afghanistan had been a quite Westernized country. The Cold War's final big hiccup was the war. As time went on the situation in the country spins more out of control. Pazira and her family witness the painful changes and must decide whether to...more
Excellent re women in Afghanistan especially prior to and through the Russian occupation.
Read for AP Lang. Loved this book! I'd recommend it to anyone!
Not in the right mood to read this right now - maybe I'll pick it up again later.
A narrative of life in Afghanistan during troubled times.
Autobiography of an Afghan woman.
Jul 02, 2012
Robynne
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
those interested in Afghanistan or women's issues
A well-written memoir.
Jul 03, 2009
Mary Dommert
marked it as to-read
AARP mag
The first half of this book is a memoir and the second half is more journalistic. The memoir part is much better. English is not her first language, so the prose is somewhat stilted, but it's interesting as a view into the life of an educated Afghani family before and during the Soviet occupation. It really gives you a sense of what Afghanistan has lost.
Not well written but still interesting enough to be enjoyable. Informative and interesting.
This book was due back to the library before I could finish...normally I would be upset, but I was bogged down in reading it anyways, and was not too regretful in returning it. I am interested in learning more about Afghanistan, but this was not the way to do it...the author was too detail orientated in way that lost me as a reader.
This book was amazing. It was a great compliment to the Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns which I have read. I think I liked it more than either of those books because it provided a lot more historical information. I recommend it to anybody who is interested in learning about that part of the world.
Wow!!! This is ONE hidden book! Nelofer Pazira tells us the story of her life in Afghanistan, and how she and her family escaped from it. I don't have many words for this book, but everybody should read it. Then we can discuss again about Afghanistan.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Nelofer Pazira is an award-winning Afghan-Canadian director, actress, journalist and author. She grew up in Kabul, Afghanistan, where she lived through ten years of Soviet occupation before escaping with her family to Pakistan. From there, they immigrated to New Brunswick, Canada, in 1990.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelofer_...
More about Nelofer Pazira...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelofer_...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
